This invention relates to spiked shoes in general, and spiked shoes for baseball in particular.
This type of spiked shoes have spikes provided at its toe and heel portions so as to extend across the longitudinal centerline of the sole. Ordinarily, these spikes have base plates mounted to the toe and heel portions of the sole. Each base plate further includes a pair of spikes provided on both sides thereof. Thus it was customary to provide three spikes at the toe portion and three spikes at the heel portion of shoes. While the wearer is walking or running, the spikes bite into the ground, preventing slippage.
A human foot is made up of a large number of bones of different sizes. Functionally, these bones are divided into inside bones which support the weight of the body, and outside bones that help a smooth heel-to-toe weight shift. Ordinarily, man lands each foot on the ground with the heel first. Then, the weight shifts toward the tiptoe via the outside bones, and the foot takes off the ground by kicking the ground with the first toe. During such weight shift, a large part of the weight acts on the fourth metatarsal of the foot, especially at the joint between the fourth toe and the fourth metatarsal, i.e. at the root of the fourth toe.
In spite of this fact, conventional spiked shoes had no spike under the root of the fourth toe. Thus, a large force tends to act on the spikes of the toe portion when the wearer kicks the ground. This is especially true for spiked shoes for baseball, because in most cases, before making a move, a baseball player stands with the heels off ground so that he can make as quick a start as possible. Thus, when the player kicks the ground, only the toe portion of the sole is in contact with the ground, so that it is difficult to grip the ground with a sufficiently strong force.
An object of this invention is to provide spiked shoes which can grip the ground firmly when the wearer kicks the ground so that he can kick the ground with minimum loss of power.
According to this invention, there is provided a spiked shoe comprising a sole having a toe portion, a heel portion and an intermediate portion between the toe portion and the heel portion, wherein spikes are provided at the toe and heel portions of the sole so as to extend across a longitudinal centerline of the sole, characterized in that an additional spike is provided at the intermediate portion of the sole so as to extend across the fourth metatarsal of the wearer""s foot.
In other words, the spiked shoes according to the present invention are provided with additional spikes at the toe portion and the intermediate portion of shoes in addition to six spikes provided on the conventional spiked shoes.
While the wearer is walking or running, the spike extending across the longitudinal centerline of the sole supports the weight of the wearer at the root of the fourth toe. Thus, the additional spike cooperates with the spikes secured to the toe and heel portions of the sole to enable the wearer to kick the ground strongly with minimum loss of power even with the heels off ground.
From another aspect of the invention, there is provided a spiked shoe wherein base plates having the spikes extending across the longitudinal centerline of the sole are mounted to the toe and heel portions of the sole, respectively, and another base plate having an additional spike is mounted to the intermediate portion of the sole, each of the base plates further having a pair of spikes provided on both sides of the longitudinal centerline.
In this arrangement, the pairs of spikes bear lateral kicking forces, so that this spiked shoes can grip the ground firmly when the wearer moves not only back and forth but sideways. When the spikes are worn, the base plates can be easily removable for replacement.
The base plate mounted to the intermediate portion may have an arcuately convexed front edge extending along a line connecting the roots of the toes of the wearer""s foot.
With this arrangement, when the wearer kicks the ground, the sole is bent smoothly along the line connecting the roots of the toes. This minimizes the burden on the wearer""s foot.
In the arrangement in which the base plate mounted to the toe portion has an arcuately convexed rear edge, and the base plate mounted to the intermediate portion has an arcuately convexed front edge extending along a line connecting the roots of the toes of the wearer""s foot, the base plates will never hinder smooth flexing of the toe portion of the sole, so that the toes can be bent smoothly.
Other features and objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description made with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: